Ms. Atara Segal, new 9th grade Honors Tanach teacher, is looking forward to teaching and living in the Los Angeles environment this year.
“Everything is very different, especially the students,” Ms. Segal remarked. “They each have their own unique way of looking at one topic.”
Ms. Segal is the wife of new head of school, Rabbi Ari Segal. They moved with their family to Los Angeles this year from Houston, Texas, where he was head of the Robert M. Beren Academy, a K-12 Modern Orthodox school, for seven years.
In Houston, Ms. Segal taught many subjects, ranging from math to Gemara, Tanach and Jewish philosophy, to middle and high school students. She has a degree in pre-engineering from Stern College of Yeshiva University in New York, a teaching certificate from the University of Houston and a Master’s in Bible from Y.U.
In addition to Tanach at Shalhevet, Ms. Segal is teaching eighth-grade Navi, Mishna, Chumash and Halacha at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, where three of the Segals’ four daughters are enrolled. Their youngest is nine months old.
Her Shalhevet class meets Period 1.
“She’s always positive and tries to be helpful,” said freshman Mati Hurwitz, one of her students.
With so many changes in her life, Ms. Segal seemed at home with the idea of everything being new.
“I am willing to try new things here at Shalhevet,” declared Ms. Segal, “and I am not afraid, because L.A. people are very open.”
“It is a big difference from teaching at middle school,” she added. “Middle school students are more open about their emotions, but high schoolers are more willing to try something new.”
Aside from teaching, Ms. Segal enjoys swimming, jogging and reading both fiction and non-fiction. She looks forward to enjoying all three of these hobbies at our local beaches.
“I especially love running,” said Ms. Segal, “and if I were a student here at Shalhevet I would join the track team. Also, I know that I would be very interested in working for the Boiling Point.
“This whole year is going to be one big adventure,” she said.
